Where did he ?
by Something Less Than Epic
Summary: I mean, really, what happened to...?


Note: Title should be 'Where did he...?', but it got buggered up by the site. Sigh.  
  
---  
  
Following the descent of Sin into the heart of Bevelle, the future of the Yevon faith seemed to be in serious doubt. Summoners were abandoning their pilgrimages right, left, and centre; warrior monks, bereft of high command owing to a lack of Maesters to issue orders, ran about in utter chaos; and Sub-Lieutenant Semi Jamir, a relatively minor officer, was relegated to the task of supplying a list of all active Guardians, a rather large duty indeed. For days on end, he poured over listings and searched out those Guardians known to be in Bevelle, ticking off name after name on his scrolls. News reports flooded in about this Guardian and that Guardian, be they off protecting Kilika or shirking their duties on the beaches of Besaid. For a man with so few contacts, Semi was implacable in his duties, and managed to track down all but four Guardians. In the coming months, he would learn that two had died in combat – their remains were both found on the Thunder Plains, alongside that of their ill-fated Summoner – and a third had simply run off with her Summoner: the two were now blissfully wed, off living near the Moonflow in a small cottage.  
  
At the moment, though, those four names plagued his searches. Why these lists were even important, he hardly knew: Guardians were basically personal bodyguards, and generally died before their Summoners ever did. Naturally, somebody else had been given the task of listing all the Summoners, something that was far easier owing to their notoriety and generally high profile approach to life.  
  
But, he supposed, in times of utter confusion, it was important to tally ones resources. Especially when that confusion involved the fall of a religion and the crashing of a giant monstrous world destroyer into twenty city blocks.  
  
"Lena Gerai, Gally and Gully Sorben" – they had been twins – "and. . . some guy named Bontz. Hum. Nobody's ever even heard of him yet; just a name on the registry scrolls. Wonder where the devil he wandered off to. Lesse, who's his Summoner. . ."  
  
---  
  
Wakka and Lulu, no longer needed in protecting Yuna – she now had the whole of Yevon to keep her safe in Bevelle – decided, after several months, to head back to Besaid. They both missed the quiet solitude of the ocean, though only Lulu would admit it; Wakka had always insisted on his status as an action-monger. Ever the man's man. And, yet, Lulu saw something in him, a special little something that made him ever so charming. . .  
  
It didn't matter, though; she wasn't about to go off chasing after the big lug. No sir. Romance was the last thing she wanted: right now, after seemingly ages of travelling, fighting, and rebuilding, Lulu just wanted to rest. She and Wakka would, no doubt, return to Bevelle after some much needed vacation time. So, she sat, stretched out on a chair in her tiny, spherical hut, perusing a good novel. It involved blitzball, as most novels invariably did in Spira – what should she expect in a world so devoid of other entertaining pursuits? – but she managed to look past it for the characters behind the noisy, somewhat retarded sport. Whether or not she acknowledged that blitzball was good for making people happy, the pale, ever gloomy Lulu had never enjoyed it personally.  
  
Naturally, those seeking a little quiet are never indulged, as Wakka decided to come bursting in at top speed, throwing aside the curtains and scaring Lulu half to death with a bellowed "Hey Lu! Help me out, ya!" A finely placed fire spell, not too powerful but enough to singe his idiotic hair, immediately blasted Wakka in the chest and sent him tumbling out of Lulu's hut.  
  
A tiny whisp of smoke rose lazily from Wakka's clothing as faint embers were brushed away from his burnt clothing by the summer winds. He groaned deeply, but rose quickly: after fighting Sin, such an attack was like getting pelted by a stone.  
  
Though she spat fire, Lulu's eyes were of the deepest, most chilling ice as she gazed at her companion. "Do that again and I'll try aiming lower."  
  
Wakka's hands, instantly protective, flew to the endangered crevice. "You wouldn't!"  
  
Lulu simply glared, without comment.  
  
"Okay, you would. My bad. Just. . . don't, okay?" Wakka's pleading was rather pathetic. Lulu enjoyed it.  
  
"No promises."  
  
Wakka, still a bit dazed and fearful for his manhood, tentatively removed his hands, unclenching every muscle in his body. His mind had lost its original purpose for disrupting Lulu.  
  
She sighed, utterly exasperated. "What do you want, Wakka?"  
  
His eyes lit up, purpose renewed. "Oh yeah, I meant to ask ya somethin', Lu. I was sittin' over on the beach, just thinkin' about all the people we met, and all the places we've been to over the last while – and I started thinkin' about where all the people we met are now, y'know? Reminiscing- like, ya?"  
  
She humoured him. "Yes, I see. Go on." It seemed as though his vocabulary had worsened over the last few months: perhaps Yuna had more of an effect on his brain than Lulu had given her credit for.  
  
"And eventually, I hit one guy, and it was just a total blank, ya? I remember seeing him one last time: then, he just kinda vanished. I dunno what happened to him. I was wonderin' if you knew, maybe, 'cause I'm stumped."  
"Who?"  
  
---  
  
Kimahri, the ever-faithful Ronso companion of Yuna, had remained by her side, even as she assumed a leadership role and did not much require his protection. So long as he found it capable of his bones to move, he would continue to do so, too. As per usual, Kimahri was generally a silent bodyguard: however, despite what most people thought, he was a great thinker, and deeply philosophical, in his own highly natural, Ronso-like manner. And, most importantly, he held a deep personal debt to the people who had helped not only he in his life's journeys, but those who had aided Yuna on her pilgrimage. So, every day, as he tailed Yuna in her various comings and goings, he quietly sifted through a mental list of people who had helped the pair along the way, and thanked them on a daily basis. Kimahri's dedication was absolutely astounding, not to mention his memory.  
  
Tidus was very high on the list, alongside Lulu, Wakka, Chappu, and Auron. Rikku, too, had a fairly high spot, owing to her dedication towards finding a method of destroying Sin without simultaneously condemning Yuna to a grisly, Aeon-induced death. From there, it ran into less reoccurring figures, from Yuna's caretakers to her barber. Needless to say, more of his list consisted of figures important to Yuna than to himself.  
  
One day, however, as Yuna was supervising the cleaning of several city blocks, and Kimahri was mentally checking his list, he ran across a pair of names that somewhat confused him. They seemed to be only relatively good terms with Yuna when last they'd met, but, one of the two had been quite a bitch to Yuna in the past. And the other, well, Kimahri didn't much remember the other one well.  
  
Kimahri wondered about that one. He knew what had happened to the bitch: she'd gone back to her home of Kilika after relinquishing the role of Summoner. What about that other one, though? Her guardian? The stout guy. . .?  
  
---  
  
Auron, now in his proper form – that of a luminescent pyrefly – found the Farplane to be, quite frankly, unbearably dull. He couldn't even drink his liquor, for christ's sake, since his arms had kind of vanished. Even the novelty of spending eternity with his two old companions had somewhat gone to the dogs.  
  
So his mind wandered. Constantly. Thinking was one of the things he really could do: after all, a wisp of light is limited when it comes to entertainment. It touched upon every person he had ever met, with remarkably vivid clarity: and when it touched upon one of his greatest admirers, he couldn't help but shudder a bit. The man had no sense of personal hygiene. One would think his bossy Summoner would've instilled that much into his rather clunky frame.  
  
Auron paused, floating about lazily. Hmm. . . where'd he get off to, anyway. . .?  
  
---  
  
"Hum, right here... Dona Porvali?"  
  
---  
  
After her final discussion with Tidus aboard the Al Bhed airship, Dona Porvali had decided it was time to put an end to the Summoner game and just start living her life the way she wanted. So, with a little coaxing, she had managed to get Captain Cid to drop her off in Luca, and from there, she caught a boat back to Kilika, her town of birth. Things had been so much simpler in those old days: fishing, snaring, and dozing. . . ahhh, it was a simple and grand life, one that Dona had always loved.  
  
Kilika, eventually, had become a little too small for her worldly ambitions, and she'd departed at age fifteen, joining the temple in Bevalle to be indoctrinated as a Summoner. It was there that she gained her decidedly imperious attitude: being the saviour of Spira, after all, tended to give a person a big head, and Dona was not one of the big exceptions to this rule. She had always felt above everyone else, like some sort of queen: and, well, if it all ended early, then it was still for a good cause. That much, she knew was true, for the teachings of Yevon always stirred brightly in her breast. They just managed to be veiled with a thick coating of bitchiness most of the time.  
  
No longer, though: no, she had steeled herself into beginning a new life, out in tiny Kilika, taking up the mantle of a simple villager once more. So, one year after Sin had made its final descent into death, and Yu Yevon with it, Dona found herself sitting back in Kilika, praising the sun for its warm rays while she simply lay back on the docks and contemplated life.  
  
Everything was perfect again.  
  
Well, except for one thing.  
  
One tiny, almost insignificant thing.  
  
One tiny, almost insignificant thing that she just could not pin down.  
  
A sort of nagging doubt that always pestered Dona's mind, day in and day out. Most of the time, she simply ignored it: however, in these moments of introspection, she could not help but conceive of the fact that something was wrong, something was missing. . . but what?  
  
Perhaps it was simply the void of her Summonership; after all, that had taken up a large part of her life. Missing the glory was fairly natural for a person in her now diminished position. She had done her best to relinquish all ties with her old life since returning to Kilika, and, so far, aside from a few mentions here and there amongst the townspeople, she had succeeded. . . so, dammit, what was it?  
  
She wondered.  
  
And pondered.  
  
And thought.  
  
What did she forget to do?  
  
The answer, when it came, rammed into brain at full strength, a missile of sudden understanding that flared her senses to their peak and turned her face bright red. With a shriek she tipped off the dock and into the water. "Oh shit, Barthello!"  
  
---  
  
Barthello Bontz had never been a clever man, but that was not his fault: for, throughout his long, physically demanding life, he had never been faced with decision making. Everyone around him had made those decisions for him, time and again, dating back to his mother.  
  
Barthello had basically been a beast of burden to his mother: hold this, carry this, lift this, put this there, and so forth. Constant labour had honed Barthello into a well-muscled young man, if a little empty when it came to brains. It was true, he admired Auron in his capacity as Braska's Guardian, and claimed that Auron had been his inspiration for becoming a Guardian himself: however, it had actually been his devout mother who'd made the choice for him, sending Barthello off to be trained as a Guardian in Bevelle. And, there, he'd faced more superiors telling him what to do – swing this, chop this, bash this, decapitate this. He was quite used to it by this point. He was more than happy to just do what people wanted of him without a fuss, for, generally speaking, that got him along in life nicely.  
  
Life with Dona had been even easier than before, and Barthello loved it. His mission was simple: protect his Summoner, and do exactly what she says. And he did, down to every last detail. "Barthello, get me food." Done. "Barthello, get me water." Done. "Barthello, kill that bug thing." Done. "Barthello, clean up this mess I made, pronto." Done. "Barthello, wipe my as-"  
  
Well, that may be going too far, but one gets the point quite clearly. He was not a thinker. So, when Dona was kidnapped by the Al Bhed and Barthello found himself left to his own devices, the big man was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Run around Macalania Forest and look for her frantically?  
  
It seemed like a good enough plan to he who had never formed a plan in his life, aside from what he was going to eat and drink for dinner. So he dashed about the forest in a frenzy, calling for Dona, his purpose, his guiding star.  
  
Eventually, he ran into Yuna and her band of Guardians, the fabled Sir Auron included, while skittering along the darkened paths of the forest. Auron, finally giving Barthello some badly needed advice, told the big man to "guard your emotions, then guard your Summoner". Most people would have found such a commentary profound: Barthello, on the other hand, took it as a request, to proceed in a more orderly manner, something he did with absolute glee. He would, coolly and calmly, search out his Summoner.  
  
And so he tried. For months, and months, and months. First, he wandered the forest, never leaving, in case he miss Dona. Soon, he branched out, seldom returning to any town – he gained a bit of a reputation in Guadosalam as the 'stinky tree-beast' – and losing just about all his civility in the process. Anyone who spoke to Barthello for a few moments would have thought him fairly intelligent, for his speech was rather normal: however, his brain was small, and prone to easy regression. By the end, Barthello seldom spoke at all, aside from odd, guttural sputterings issued forth from behind a thick, hairy beard. He became a local legend, a creature who lived off of forest animals and berries, a thing that accosted any passerby with a careful eye, looking for his precious Summoner.  
  
In his own way, Barthello was incredibly loyal to his profession: he just did it in a very, very bad way.  
  
Needless to say, when Dona managed to track him down, a year and a half after Sub-Lieutenant Semi Jamir listed him as 'MIA' on the official Guardian scrolls, Barthello was so overcome with joy that he urinated upon himself and jumped his Summoner, determined never to let her out of his sight again. She, on the other hand, could barely help but pass out from his stench.  
  
Several months of recuperation in Kilika revived the old, dumb, human Barthello, much to Dona's joy. She took care, however, to teach him the strict rudiments of personal hygiene, and forced him to wash himself every damned day he was within three feet of her.  
  
*Note: Upon finishing this, I discovered – much to my chagrin – that you actually do see Barthello again after the run in at Macalania Forest, and he is indeed with Dona. I apparently have simply not found that point yet in the game. Uhhh, ignore that, will you? I'm putting this up regardless, dammit all. 


End file.
